#back to my original point - sci fi got so many tropes in it. bonus point that this makes it easy to guess plot twists

[arodrwho]

sci fi can hold so many tropes in it

[lokigodofaces]

thoughts on loki ep 3: lamentis

under cut for your convenience

my first thought when i saw C-20 at the beginning was the Framework...i might be a bit too obsessed with an aos/Loki crossover...

C-20 was sorta able to find out something was wrong. from what Sylvie said, that's pretty impressive.

i wonder if Sylvie uses magic similar to Wanda's. like if Wanda just uses it on a bigger scale. the mind illusions thing checks out. and i saw on youtube that another patron looks like Evan Peters, so maybe they're connected? but most likely they just hired a dude that happens to look like Evan Peters.

going back to that, the glitch in C-20's illusion was like the glitches in WandaVision

if this really is similar to Wanda in canon, that means Sylvie and other Lokis might be nexus beings (y'know, the very thing i shout about in tags because i want)

Okay, so Sylvie tried to enchant a minuteman, which means she must have assumed the TVA operates on the same physics as the timeline. So neither Lokis thought magic could possibly be impeded.

good action sequence with Sylvie and minutemen and Sylvie and Loki

dudes...Renslayer can't fight. she literally did a horrible job.

Sylvie really thought the TVA valued Loki and that they really wanted/needed him to stop her. so she threatened to kill him, just for Renslayer to give the go ahead. shows how little the TVA cares and it echoes Odin.

Lamentis 1 sounded cool because that is a very sci-fi-ey name. It means the star the planet orbits is called Lamentis and the planet is the closest planet. That's how we name lots of planets outside the solar system. so i appreciated that.

okay, lamentis is literally just the bi flag. but still lots of purple so i will claim it as ace as well.

teleportation! and actual magic! yay!

okay, are they setting up a Loki/Sylvie romance? the way they framed the two when Sylvie tried to enchant Loki was how it's often done with kisses

Sylvie said with strong minds she has to do what she did to C-20 to enchant them, but she couldn't even do that with Loki. Which shows how powerful Loki is and how powerful the mind stone is.

i will die for more of Loki and Sylvie being chaotic together

Sylvie she said is an alias. Does this mean she is genderfluid but is female more often than male? i'm told some genderfluids are one gender more than the other, and i've considered Hiddleston's Loki to be predominantly male. Could Sylvie be the other way around? & born Loki but haven't changed her name? or have different names for different genders? and doesn't want to be called Loki when she's female because that's not her name as a woman?

literally i can't tell if they're setting up romance or sibling stuff.

i never thought i'd hear the word "savvy" from Loki. but, hey, if Jack Sparrow can say it, i'll allow it.

the effects for the gun that woman used look similar to Daisy Johnson's quakes. for a second i hoped for an aos crossover, but then i remembered that marvel hates it's non-Disney+ series.

i like the differences between Loki and Sylvie. Loki is less confrontational and more likely to mischief his way when Sylvie is more likely to rip the bandaid off and get it over with, if that makes sense. i think that Sylvie might just be so tired from living on the run, only going to apocalypses that she just wants to get it over with.

love is a serious theme throughout this episode. again, are they setting up a Loki/Sylvie romance? or will it be platonic or familial or something else?

Loki is very clearly not okay with the fact that so many people are being left to die, and i'm here for it

so the whole thing to get on the train i think is setting those two up to be a good duo. between illusions and enchantments, they can do a lot. and Loki was able to get them part of the way, and Sylvie the rest. i think it could be foreshadowing both of them needing to use their skills to work together.

never have your back to a door, i guess

Sylvie's reaction to Loki saying he wasn't told he was adopted. man, she was worried. she knows that that is messed up and i think she feels bad for Loki. she's probably imagining how her life would be different if she didn't know she was adopted.

sounds like Odin and Frigga weren't the adopters of Sylvie. Maybe the Lushtons? i don't know anything about them, just that Lushton is Sylvie's last name in the comics. so, yay for her for not having trash parents. unless they were, then sorry for Sylvie. at least they told her she was adopted. but if the Lushtons adopted her, how did they fall across a frost giant? especially the daughter of Laufey?

i've seen suggestions that the post man Sylvie is with could be Stan Lee since a couple cameos were of him as a post man. Maybe a younger post man, but he has less of a lifespan (if he is actually human in universe. i still like to think of him as the One Above All who just really likes to see the drama of things) than Sylvie, so she could be with him for a long time. maybe that's why Stan is always cameoing. he's just trying different things to try to find his love. and maybe he has a longer lifespan (he was in First Avenger) but not as long as Sylvie's so she still was there for most his life but he's dying soon. I actually like this headcanon a lot, i think it's sweet.

YAS BISEXUAL LOKI YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY I AM! but i'm also scared my parents will find out. they're anti-queer. my siblings saw it, & they aren't supportive either but they operate on an "ignore it" policy, so they don't really care as long as it isn't a big deal.

also it is heavily hinted Sylvie is bi as well.

yes, i will continue to headcanon Loki as greyromantic and asexual. deal with it. i will change my language from panromantic to biromantic since the director specifically said he was bi.

also, it sounded like the director might be bi as well. good for her, taking a character she saw as bi and literally making it canon.

i knew Tom could sing, he was on Broadway. but i had never heard him sing i don't think. he has a good voice. petition to make a musical with Loki. watch the episode "Duet" of The Flash. i want something similar to that. can Sophia sing? throw her in too if she can!

translation of the norwegian suggests romance between Loki and Sylvie

was i expecting an "ANOTHER" reference? no. am i glad we got it? yeah, that was a nice touch.

turns out "full" means drunk in Norwegian according to a youtuber? but don't quote that. Loki says he's full, not drunk at one point.

what were they serving on that train? Thor couldn't get drunk on Earth. heck, Steve couldn't. so it must've been a heck of a drink they were serving

ok, the dagger metaphor i actually really liked. could be a shakespeare reference?

the fireworks thing with Frigga was cute

okay, i don't like Frigga much, but this has confirmed that Frigga was, maybe possibly, better than Odin. Frigga at least believed in Loki. but then her betrayal was so much worse.

wait, i just realized. Loki gets a fight scene on a train. a superhero genre staple is a fight on a moving vehicle (bonus if it's a train). yay! Loki hasn't had this trope yet in any of his appearances. off screen before Infinity War, and i don't count his attempt to murder Thanos on the Statesman. but we can add that to his list of superhero tropes.

i feel like the TVA needs to make stronger tempads...

okay, Loki threw the dagger horribly because he was drunk, right?they aren't saying he has horrible aim, are they?

falling out of a moving vehicle is also a superhero trope...at least it went better for them than it did Bucky

i relate to Sylvie screaming in the middle of nowhere

Loki being gentle with Sylvie and letting her talk to him. gosh. i love it. was not expecting to see Loki from my fics make an appearance.

Sylvie explained the enchantment to Loki, which i think was a poor decision for her.

she said C-20's mind was hard to navigate to her original memories. maybe the TVA does something to the TVA agents that join them. maybe if Loki proved useful, they'd do it to Loki.

or maybe variants lose memory over time. Sylvie says something about her memory being like blips of a dream, but I don't remember the context. maybe over time variants lose their memories and only retain a few things. Sylvie is well down that process, Loki has had hardly any change, and those working for the TVA only have a few things to remind them.

Mobius absolutely was a jet ski enthusiast in the '90's when he was arrested, and he loved Josta.

Casey liked Boku juice, a sign he was from the '90's.

whoever makes the uniforms is from whatever period that style of suit was popular ('80's?).

if anyone isn't a variant, it's Renslayer. she knows more than she should, i'm sure of it.

C-20 likes margaritas now, i'm sure of it.

Mobius has an interesting relationship with Renslayer. I wasn't sure if it was romantic or what. Maybe Renslayer looks like his lover from the '90's so he is flirty with her because of the faint memories he has.

Loki immediately catches on to the TVA agents not knowing they're variants. they think the Time Keepers created them. he knows that, Sylvie didn't. this immediately tells Loki that the Time Keepers are messed up.

possible redemptions for Mobius? B-15? C-20? when they find out they're variants?

so does C-20 know now? she kept saying "it was real" when Mobius found her in Roxxcart. maybe she had dreams of her life before, and Sylvie showed her that they were real?

the whole scene in the city was wild. so much color, lights, people, action, it was wild

Loki being protective of Sylvie, helping her up and wrapping his arm around her, i'm here for it.

loved the bit where Loki used telekinesis to stop the tower from falling on them.

there was a bit where Loki and Sylvie fought & their moves mirrored each other and gosh that was a nice touch.

Loki's reaction to the Ark's destruction. standing there in defeat while Sylvie walks away. wow. Tom. you are amazing.

and what the heck why did the episode end there?

can't wait for the next episode

more of TVA being evil being shown, loving it.

really, is Loki/Sylvie a thing? i have a hard time seeing romance some times, so let me know.

can we please get a Kang tease?

great lighting & cinematography. beautiful. lovely. also good action. shout out to the stunt doubles since they don't get enough credit.

okay let Loki & Sylvie be friends (or lovers, i'm fine with that) and let them burn the TVA down together.

aaaaaaaaaaa how are we half way through?

also, have the TVA fixed all the messed up timelines yet?

oh wait i gotta talk about this. the minutemen don't remember their names. i doubt Mobius's name was Mobius Mobius Mobius. Casey is probably not his real name. The Clone Wars fan in me was already screaming, but now it is even more.

[someplace-that-is-else]

‘Well, Fuck...’: How I Fell into SyFy’s THE MAGICIANS’

 SyFy had let me down way too many times.

 From Sliders to Farscape to that one season of Incorporated, the SyFy (used to be Sci-fi) was a channel that was littered with the ‘bodies’ of cancelled sci-fi/fantasy tv shows. Now silly B-movies and wrestling on the other hand…yay, baby!!! Allow me to roll my eyes at a channel for sci-fi that did not cater to it. Eventually…SyFy tried again to focus on what it should when it started…SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY!!!

 So it was with hesitation that I attempted to even watch any show on that channel. I had heard or seen ads for THE EXPANSE and THE MAGICIANS. However, I did not really have an interest.

 I sat at home one Wednesday night. And oh, look!! It happened to be on. Well…I guess I was curious enough to look at this ‘Harry Potter crossed over with Narnia’ tale. Anyone who knew me knew that I was an uberNarnia fan. So perhaps I might be interested.

 The idea was sound. Viewers met Quintin Coldwater as he was re-entering the real world after a tenure in a mental institution. Life was too rough for this 20something year old. Not helped by his love…some might call it obsession with a series of fantasy books about a Narniasque world called Fillory. And then he stumbled into a magic school called Brakebills…

 …and found out Fillory…was REAL.

 Mind blown. Like I said it had potential. There was even an assortment of students there…gay guy, sassy best friend girl, the required love interest, the hothead...I believed all tv show character tropes were represented. And the description of the various concentrations of magic were interesting and full of more possibilities. Still…was I sold on the show enough to come back week after week?

 And then…entered the Beast.

When a Show Loses A Good Antagonist: The Magicians Season Two

 Every tv show has to have an antagonist. Any antagonist worth his weight in gold best be an intriguing one. And the Beast…was just that. Stepping out of a mirror after freezing a whole classroom of magicians in place, the Beast was a well-dressed gentleman with six fingers with a swarm of moths where his head should be. As if the visual wasn’t freaky enough, he took down the teacher the Dean of Brakebills…and plucked out his eyes.  

And this was in the last five minutes of the pliot.

 Yeah…mind blown. So, I continued to watch. I watched Quentin have situations that were callouts to things I knew from Narnia. I watched his best friend Julia try to find her own way to magic after being rejected by Brakebills. I watched all kinds of hijinks occur over that first season as the characters were fleshed out and it looked like the students were on a collision course with the Beast who was bond and determined to kill Quentin.

 Then I lost track of the show.

☹

 Eventually I got around to watching all that I missed about THE MAGICIANS. I had heard about how Season 1 and Season 2 ended in passing. However, I had not seen it for myself. Meanwhile, Season 3 was some way off. Thanks to the library…pun unintended…I got to see it for myself.

 Season 2…was meh. I loved the fact that Season 2 introduced Greek mythology into this already complicated fantasy design. I loved that the show grew darker. Not that it was not already dark with the Julia arc…wanting revenge for her rape that got another character…a fan fave at that…killed. But speaking of antagonist…let’s talk about the rapist…Reynard the Fox, trickster god.

 On the good side, it was through him that Greek mythology was introduced into the show. Fine actor for sure playing the character. However, compared to the Beast…Reynard was a lightweight. Worse he was two dimensional versus the complexity that the Beast was over the course of Season 1 as the origin of who the Beast was revealed itself. Bonus, the story of the Beast…which was the main plot arc for Quentin…converged with Julia’s plot arc by the end of Season 1, leading to a team up between the Beast and Julia that promised that Season 2 was not going to be meh.

 Then the Beast was killed.

 Very early in Season 2, the Beast was done away with. And what followed was a very uneven show IMO. It was like the writers could not figure out the balance between what was going on in Fillory which became more centered in Season 2 and what was going on in the normal world at Brakebills. And while this was all going on Reynard was the main villain. Complexity gave way to…??

 Like I said…any antagonist worth his weight in gold for a tv show should be an intriguing one. And Reynard was anything but. Even with the introduction of Greek mythology. And by the time of the intro, it was too little, too late near the end of the Season Two. Yeahhhh…no. I thought I would be done with the show. Nothing really was interesting me.

 And then came the twist.

 A Hero’s Journey in More Ways Than One: The Magicians Season Three

  What was the twist? Well, the gang killed a god. The punishment? The gods’ parents turned off magic. No magic meant end of show, right? WRONG!!!

 And so began the Quest of the Seven Keys. Seven keys that would be used at the end of the world and restore magic.

 And oh, the resulting journey to get there.

 Season 3 one could say the main villain might have been a bait and switch. Going into the season, the main villain appeared to be the Fairies and their fierce Fairy Queen as they continued to give Quentin…especially his friends Elliot and Margo (a fierce magician in her own right)…nothing, but trouble. However, as the season progressed a new villain of a different sort emerged…humans in the form of the MacAllisters family and magicians in the form of the Library. Both wanted magic, but for different reasons. By the end of the season, the Fairies and the Library revealed complexities about themselves that reveal them as excellent antagonists (see above about tv shows and antagonists) for our heroes on their journey to restore magic.

 The MacAllisters…not so much.

 Speaking of our heroes, with such complexities from the bad guys, it was great to see the progress that the main characters were experiencing as well. From Quentin growing assertive in the progress of going on the quest…not to mention exploring his sexual fluidity with Elliot to Julia making amends for past actions resulting in her ascending to goddess status to Elliot and Margo growing into strong, capable leaders of Fillory, the characters were finally growing out of the fantasy tropes they had started off as in Season 1. And the pacing was perfect, with a flow of creative ideas on the way as if the writers had found inspiration themselves in their writing, resulting in some of the best episodes so far.

 I could not believe it. THE MAGICIANS had gone from a meh season to MUST SEE TV. And oh, did I want to see how it would end. Would they truly get magic back? In the end, they did.

 With a twist. Of course. 

 Magic was back. However, the gang was in a bad place by the end. Betrayed by Quentin’s love interest Alice…not to mention the Dean of Brakebills…in a deal with the Library and those evil MacAllisters. And mindwiped into forgetting who they are.

 And did I mention anything about the Monster in the Castle at the End of the World? The Monster who can jump bodies. The Monster Who Wants…and was currently in Elliot’s body? The Monster that NO ONE (but Alice who winded up inprisoned by the Library…long story) remembers?

 Yep. Season Four was going to be a doozy.

 But What Does It Want: The Frustrating Path of THE MAGICIANS Season Four

 The fourth season of THE MAGICANS began some time ago.

 In a few words…slow burn.

 I recalled Season 3 being full of different directions and ideas that converged into a great whole that I could watch over and over again. Season 4 so far was also full of different directions and ideas. However, I had no idea yet where it was going.

 I loved that it was doing unexpected sequels to some of the best episodes from Season 3. However, that could also be seen as worrying. Had the writers peaked at Season 3?

 By the midway point of Season Three, the quest for the seven keys was halfway over. There had been answers given along the way to various character arcs. Villains had started to show layers.

 As of this writing, Season Four was at its midway point. All viewers knew of the Monster was that gods had stolen something from it, and it was piecing itself together. What the pieces meant or even why the gods had done it was still unknown. While a quest to save Elliot was emerging, there had not really been any progressive character development like Season Three had. And the Library, which had emerged as a complex villain in Season Three, was becoming somewhat one dimensional in their attempt to ration out magic. The sense of must see tv had been replaced by a lot of patience.

 Perhaps the mindwipe was resolved too quickly?

 There had been signs that this was all going to change. One of the characters had not forgotten about her life under the mindwipe. In fact, she had had an epiphany. And didn’t epiphanies mean changes would be made? Quentin knew that Elliot was still alive in the Monster…and viewers knew of a never-seen-before conversation between the two about a possible relationship. Meanwhile Julia might not be a goddess anymore…or is she? Hmmm. Not to mention a subplot with the Library involving their head Librarian just might return complexity to them as a good antagonist for our heroes.

 Did someone say revolution for sure?

   #themagicians #scifi #syfychannel #fillory #quentin #julia #complexity #antagonist #gold #thebeast #beast #questofthesevenkeys #mindwipe #library #greekmythology #mythology #renyard #revolution #magic #narnia #harrypotter #chroniclesofnarnia #elliot #margo #sexualfluidity #sliders #farscape #theexpanse #fairyqueen #wellfuck

[chaoticgoodtwin]

@sabrecmc I thought of some more, oh god. Soooooo, my mother (a librarian) handed me some regency romance when I was a teen to prep me for the language of Jane Austen (it totally worked btw). My interest snowballed from there. So, uh, I have lots of bodice ripper prompts. Here goes:

The entire paranormal Victorian sub-genre: telepathy! spiritualism! arcane magicks! alchemy! Could do a sci-fi mashup with mostly Steve’s origin story, but kind of Frankenstein-y

A Scarlet Pimpernel mashup with Tony as the French spouse of Steven Rogers lord of Brook Line or some such

There’s the obligatory story that makes possibly mystical references to King Arthur or King Mark (Tristan and Yseult). They can be, and often are, mixed with other tropes. Eg. Steve is obsessed with finding proof of King Arthur and Tony, his arranged match, tries to stymie his enthusiasm, but comes to support it after some dramatic event.

Pirates and privateers, all the pirates and privateers, take your pick.

If you want to go medieval, the Crusades are the hottest topic, but don’t discount the Saxon invasion of England, Norman invasion of England, or al-Andalus, aka Muslim Spain (harems, harems are a possibility there)

Viking raiders is a classic, with the sub-category of Viking raiders transported by magic to modern times! Viking!Steve and FrazzledInventor!Tony

Governess (in our case tutor) falling in love with the lord of the manor. Superfamily anyone?

Horribly scarred recluse of an English Lord living in a dark and crumbling castle/manor house who is saved from being horrible by true love

Special mentions that aren’t technically bodice rippers, but are definitely trashy:

Heists, from either side of the heist as a team or, better yet, opposite sides. Think Tony as a cat burglar/notorious art thief and Steve as the special agent who has put his career on the line to catch him. Bonus points for angst with a happy ending

Then there’s bodice ripping in the future/alien worlds. Many of the older tropes translate pretty well to fantasy settings

Corporate espionage/dub-con office romance was a biggie in the late ‘80s early ‘90s (I’m seeing Big Boss Tony and pre-Serum Secretary Steve)

Disillusioned/heartless billionaire recluse on his private island who is saved from being horrible by true love

Of course I have more. I didn’t even get into the lust in the dust stuff. As a note to anyone who wants to try these, you can definitely fit romance/bodice ripper genre tropes into what we would probably rate as “Teen” today that contain fade to black sex or no sex at all. No one should feel that they have to plug sex in to write these. Classic authors like Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Elizabeth Heyer, and Phyllis A. Whitney are all romance writers in whose works you’re hard pressed to find explicit sex. They are a little elevated from Harlequin trash, but so much fun to read. Then there’s “back to the source” authors to check out like the Bröntes, Jane Austen, and Elizabeth Gaskell. I hope someone enjoys these prompts. I, um, got a little excited about it, not gonna lie.